Wrap-Up - Science Fiction Experience

I'm a bit late getting to my wrap-up of the Science Fiction Experience, sponsored by Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings.  I like to read science fiction so participating in this was fun for me.  It's a loosely arranged challenge with no real targets to hit - just read and review some science fiction during the time period.

I've been reading science fiction since I was a kid, encouraged by my father in particular who reads a lot of science fiction.  Reading is big in my family - we all read and share each other's books and have been doing so my whole life.  Science fiction is the one thing that my father and I read, but my mother does not, so it's kind of special in that way.

I tend to be less interested in space opera and more interested in world-building where science fiction is concerned and even though they're separate genres, I think fantasy belongs under the science fiction umbrella.  So much of science fiction writing has been so prescient and so thought-provoking to me throughout my life that I dislike the notion that it's somehow lesser writing.  When I think of the science fiction that I have read and that has had a big impact for me, it's all great stuff.  Here's a list of a few examples:

1. Dune by Frank Herbert
2. Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
3. The Darkover Series by Marion Zimmer Bradley
4. V for Vendetta and Watchmen (a book that gave me nightmares) by Alan Moore
5. The Snow Queen by Joan Vinge
6. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Leguin
7. He, She, and It by Marge Piercy
8. Neuromancer by William Gibson
9. 1984 by George Orwell
10. Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delaney
11. Vurt by Jeff Noon
12. The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse
13. Someplace to Be Flying by Charles de Lint
14. The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay
15. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein
16. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
17. The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
18. The Prydain Chronicles by Lloyd Alexander
19. The Sun Sword Cycle by Michelle West
20. Sandman by Neil Gaiman
21. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I could go on and on about how amazing these books are, but I don't need to - you can read them and find out for yourself (and if you haven't, you really should - these are some great books).

I read four books for the Science Fiction Experience, they are listed below with links to the reviews.  One of them (Dune) was a re-read:

1. The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordan Dahlquist (review here)
2. Dune by Frank Herbert (review here)
3. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest (review here)
4. Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay (review here)

With the exception of The Glass Books of the Dreameaters, these were all great reads.  I'm looking forward Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge, geared more towards mythology, fairy tales, and fantasy - I have a pile of books just waiting for March 21!